Just like Megan McArdle. I don't even drink coffee, so I'm even more un-American than she is. If I were the market, Starbucks wouldn't exist. And I don't even like watching thrillers that much, let alone try to come up with them.

Wow, the linked essay by Mr. Nugent, much of which is a sideways review of Mark Helprin's A Winter's Tale, is as unadulterated a piece of shit from a crabbed and envious, creatively-emasculated pinhead as I've read in a long time. Only an intellectual onanist heavily beating a becalloused and shriveled root in hopes of eking out a dribble to astringify his congealing vente mocha decaf could describe Helprin's novels as an effort to "understand Reaganism as a desire for a miraculous resurrection." What a manifold putz.

I wonder if he notices that his tribe of true "Americans," sitting around swilling lattes and thinking up "psychological" thrillers, is slowly but steadily shrinking? Soon they'll be able to write some really elegiac works, as they and their paint-by-numbers world vanish like the pointless soap-bubbles of narcissism they are, and then -- thankfully -- a golden silence will fall across the last Salon salon, and we can use the beautifully deckle-edged pages of their first editions to wipe our asses, at last giving their loon lives some actual purpose.

Carl,

So, um, does that mean you don't like Mr. Nugent's review?

;-)

MG

What does liking or not liking coffee have to do with Starbucks? I drink coffee and if I was the market then Starbucks wouldn't exist either.

Hell, *McDonalds* make a far better espresso than Starbucks do, and cheaper too.

I think that it should be pretty clear that if one doesn't like coffee, one wouldn't like Starbucks (particularly if one is also averse to carbohydrates sans protein).

That doesn't meant that even if many liked coffee, that Starbucks would be successful. It's that pesky logic thing... ;-)

I just went to Yahoo Finance and took a look at Starbucks share prices -- SBUX -- since 1994 or so when they went public.

Many have done better, but it ain't a shabby chart.

Oh, Starbucks have done well financially. And I'll even visit them when travelling on the same theory under which I visit McDonalds ... the product might not be that great, but random selection of a cafe in a strange town is quite likely to result in something worse. And bad coffee can get *very* bad. Starbucks at least are religious about timing the shot and throwing it away and adjusting the tamp and/or grind if the specified volume of espresso takes too much or too little time to emerge. And they use thermometers when steaming the milk. Neither of those substitute for actual *skill* in the production of excellent coffee, but they do prevent the worst excesses of watery or overly bitter coffee that you get in random places.

Lattés: nope.
Idea for a psychological thriller: nope.
Knows that NBC is struggling to find a new ratings juggernaut: Don't watch enough TV to know how well anyone is doing in ratings.

100% un-American.

Reading just the initial Instapundit-surrogate post, I think I should answer like Alan:

Lattés: I hate coffee, but will get breakfast at Starbucks in the airports.

Idea for a psychological thriller: Uh, no.

Knows that NBC is struggling to find a new ratings juggernaut: I wouldn't be upset if NBC struggled to oblivion. However, I cannot feign ignorance here. One can't help but realize that NBC is depraved when you see "My Name is Earl" and "The Office" hyped. When your best show is a game show that requires zero intelligence, then I think it is safe to say, "you suck!"

That said, I agree with Carl on the original review by Nugent. I'm surprised Megan cared enough to even respond.

Lattés: No. If I drink coffee, it's pretty much generic and black. Possibly decaf if it's late.
Idea for a psychological thriller: Well, I do have this idea where Tom Cruise is being stalked by Brooke Shields...
Knows that NBC is struggling to find a new ratings juggernaut: Heh. Everybody loves Raymond. NBC, not so much.

I do have an idea for a murder mystery, though - a guy is found dead at a butler's convention...

Well, I like lattes, but other than that I don't know what this fellow is talking about. Any article headlined "Why don't Republicans write fiction?" isn't worth reading unless you're into nonsense anyway.

If I had to come up with an idea for a thriller it would be in the techno-thriller category, and that's as close as I come.